John Meir Astbury

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John Astbury

Sir John Meir Astbury (14 June 1860 – 21 August 1939) was a British judge and politician.[1][2]

Early life and career

Astbury was born at Grove House, Broughton, Salford, Lancashire, the son of Frederick James Astbury and Margaret née Munn.[1][2] His father was a chartered accountant from Hilton Park, Prestwich, and John was educated at Manchester Grammar School before entering the University of Oxford.[1][2]

He attended Trinity College, Oxford where he studied jurisprudence. He graduated with a second class degree in 1882, in the following year achieving a first class in the Bachelor of Civil Law examination.[1][2] In 1884 he was awarded the university's Vinerian Scholarship. This enabled him to enter the Middle Temple as a law student. He was called to the bar in the same year, and became a bencher in 1903.[1][2]

Astbury established a legal practice in

Queen's Counsel.[3] He moved to London, where he was attached to the courts of Sir Edmund Widdrington Byrne and Sir Henry Buckley successively.[1][2]

In 1905 he became a Chancery "special", charging an additional fee for his expertise in

patent law. The choice proved wise, and he conducted a very profitable practice until 1913.[1][2]

Member of Parliament

At the

Commons at the next general election in January 1910.[2]

High Court judge

In 1913 Astbury was offered a vacant judgeship in the

knighted.[1][4][5] He held the post for sixteen years, in what was generally considered an undistinguished manner.[1][2] He did, however, come to the notice of the public during the General Strike of 1926. His injunction on 11 May in favour of the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union of Great Britain was arguably instrumental in ending the strike on the following day.[1][2][6]

He resigned his seat on the bench in October 1929 and was made a

Privy Councillor the same year.[2][7] Astbury had been made an honorary fellow of Trinity College in 1923 and on his retirement donated a large collection of legal textbooks and judgements to his alma mater.[2]

Family

Astbury was twice married. In 1888 he wed Evelyn Susmann, daughter of a Manchester merchant. Following her death in 1923, he married Harriet, widow of Captain Morrell Andrew Girdlestone and daughter of George Holmes of

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA). He had one child, a daughter from his first marriage, who died in a motor accident.[1][2]

Death

The last ten years of Astbury's life saw him struggling with blindness and the loss of his only child. He died at a hotel in Sandwich, Kent in August 1939 aged 79.[1][2]

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30484. Retrieved 28 August 2011. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "Obituary: Sir John Astbury". The Times. 23 August 1939. p. 7.
  3. ^ "No. 26647". The London Gazette. 26 July 1895. p. 4233.
  4. ^ "No. 28725". The London Gazette. 3 June 1913. p. 3911.
  5. ^ "No. 28746". The London Gazette. 15 August 1913. p. 5866.
  6. ^ The Legality of the General Strike in England A. L. Goodhart The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Feb., 1927), pp. 464-485 Published by: The Yale Law Journal Company, Inc.
  7. ^ "No. 33561". The London Gazette. 17 December 1929. p. 8181.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Southport
1906–1910 		Succeeded by
Godfrey Dalrymple-White
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